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Are dancers musical tastes changing?

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:10 pm
by Roy
I just had a series of the weirdest requests at Soflex during late night. within a span of an hour I got a request for Tom Jones-Sex Bomb, another one for anything from the latest Justin Timberlake record, and a third request for anything modern. All of these sound like songs that are more appropriate for a west coast swing setting. During this time I was djing a set that was mostly groovy jazz, with some classic big band, and a few Chicago blues songs.

I have been been DJing for 8 years all over the country and I have never experienced a series of requests like that. I didn't play any of them but I found it odd. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:10 pm
by Mr Awesomer
Considering the title of your thread is "Are dancers musical tastes changing?" I would say NO, they aren't changing. Dancers like to dance to music that makes them want to dance. :lol:

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:59 pm
by lipi
did you play the "weird" requests? i would not be surprised to see one trigger the next.

"sex bomb". heheheh. guilty pleasure. i like that song. *blush*

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:13 pm
by Toon Town Dave
Were the requests from locals or visitors? If it was locals, perhaps that stuff is common and they are used to/expect it/believe it to be normal Lindy Hop music.

Something I've found DJing events away from home is that every scene seems to have a few nuggets that are not necessarily what you'd expect but the locals just like it for whatever reason. I just consider it novelty music, for example I often play "Shama Lama Ding Dong" by the Band of Oz, not really what I'd call Lindy Hop music but dancers love it because it's a fun novelty tune for a Lindy event.

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 5:25 pm
by Roy
Toon Town Dave wrote:Were the requests from locals or visitors? If it was locals, perhaps that stuff is common and they are used to/expect it/believe it to be normal Lindy Hop music.

Something I've found DJing events away from home is that every scene seems to have a few nuggets that are not necessarily what you'd expect but the locals just like it for whatever reason. I just consider it novelty music, for example I often play "Shama Lama Ding Dong" by the Band of Oz, not really what I'd call Lindy Hop music but dancers love it because it's a fun novelty tune for a Lindy event.
They were visitors, one was from Chicago the other 2 I don't know where they were from but it wasn't South Florida.

Re: Are dancers musical tastes changing?

Posted: Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:57 pm
by Swifty
Roy wrote:I just had a series of the weirdest requests at Soflex during late night. within a span of an hour I got a request for Tom Jones-Sex Bomb, another one for anything from the latest Justin Timberlake record, and a third request for anything modern. All of these sound like songs that are more appropriate for a west coast swing setting. During this time I was djing a set that was mostly groovy jazz, with some classic big band, and a few Chicago blues songs.

I have been been DJing for 8 years all over the country and I have never experienced a series of requests like that. I didn't play any of them but I found it odd. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
When I went to SoFlex a couple of years ago I found attendees there a good deal more varied regarding what they wanted to hear for swing dancing than most anywhere else I've been.

Are dancers tastes changing?

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 9:48 am
by Lawrence
Yes, and they should: to prevent stagnation.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 12:40 pm
by Swifty
I'm also starting to see a trend of Soul/R&B "Lindy" Exchanges cropping up, which I find weird.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 1:19 pm
by CafeSavoy
Swifty wrote:I'm also starting to see a trend of Soul/R&B "Lindy" Exchanges cropping up, which I find weird.
Could it be a reaction to the hot jazz trend? Dancers oscillating on both sides of the swing era?

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 3:10 pm
by Mr Awesomer
CafeSavoy wrote:Could it be a reaction to the hot jazz trend?
What "hot jazz trend" is that?
Has there been any "Hot Jazz Lindy Exchange" 's?
...and I'm being serious. I'm quite out of the loop.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 3:33 pm
by Toon Town Dave
If it was really a reaction to hot jazz, I'd expect it'd be Kenny G and not soul/R&B.

My suspicion is the Soul/R&B exchanges are driven by the folks who started dacing when that stuff was more common in the Lindy scene, also about the same time the westies quit dancing to it and started dancing to mostly disco/hip hop/remix stuff. I'd go to a westie or shag event that features lots of Soul/R&B but for Lindy Hop, I agree with swifty, it's weird.

For Reuben's reference, the closest thing to a Hot Jazz exchange I know of was the Funky Butt weekend in Vancouver, BC in November 2005, a weekend which had 3 hot bands and 1 swing band playing mostly early swing arrangements. It wasn't supposed to be an exchange but was effectively that with the large number of out of towners.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:01 pm
by JSAlmonte
Swifty wrote:I'm also starting to see a trend of Soul/R&B "Lindy" Exchanges cropping up, which I find weird.
blame Peter Strom.

Posted: Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:12 pm
by tornredcarpet
JSAlmonte wrote:
Swifty wrote:I'm also starting to see a trend of Soul/R&B "Lindy" Exchanges cropping up, which I find weird.
blame Peter Strom.
LOL word to that.

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:54 am
by CafeSavoy
GuruReuben wrote:
CafeSavoy wrote:Could it be a reaction to the hot jazz trend?
What "hot jazz trend" is that?
Has there been any "Hot Jazz Lindy Exchange" 's?
...and I'm being serious. I'm quite out of the loop.
Well, in that case, it really must be Peter's fault. At least it's not a Prince revival.

Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 10:09 am
by tornredcarpet
CafeSavoy wrote: Well, in that case, it really must be Peter's fault. At least it's not a Prince revival.
GemZombie would take offense at that.